Memories
by Rin Yamazaki
Summary: Kirigiri noticed there was a shutter at the far end of the hallway of the dormitory. She wanted to open the shutter, and had wanted to open it ever since she saw it. And now was her chance, and possibly her only chance. -Light mention of Naegiri, Kirigiri-centric 100 Themes: 11- Memory


**Memories**

Part of 100 Themes - Theme: Memory

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><p>It didn't bother Kyouko Kirigiri that she could never remember her talent. There were other things that were missing, of course, but she had decided that her missing talent was the utmost important one, and that figuring that out would return all of her memories to her. But, as hard as she tried, she was never able to find out just how to get those memories back.<p>

Of course, that all changed after the suicide and trial of Sakura Oogami.

Oogami had broken the lock on the headmaster's door, and Kirigiri had done a full-scale investigation of the room before the Mastermind had found out. During that investigation, she confirmed her thoughts about Mukuro Ikusaba, and also found a peculiar key. This key was small and silver, and had a bust of Monobear on the top. And, as Kirigiri found out soon afterwards, opened every single door in the entire school. It shocked and fascinated Kirigiri when she first tried it on the door to her own room, as well as Naegi's room, and Maizono's. She then tried locking a door, choosing the girl's toilets on the third floor. She found the key locked and unlocked the door, and now she decided to try something a bit more challenging.

Kirigiri noticed there was a shutter at the far end of the hallway of the dormitory. She wanted to open the shutter, and had wanted to open it ever since she saw it. And now was her chance, and possibly her only chance. She stuck the key in the lock, then turned it. There was a quiet clicking noise and Kirigiri slowly forced open the shutter, an angry growl escaping her throat as she did. It was much heavier than it needed to be, she decided.

Immediately Kirigiri held up the knife she'd brought from the kitchen. She slowly inched up the staircase until she was at the top. The scent was overwhelming. Once at the top, Kirigiri peered around the corner and saw no one, just several doors covered in graffiti, and a single chair in the corner.

And then it all came back.

The memories flooding back to Kirigiri made her drop to her knees and clutch her head as she screamed in agony. Her father, the headmaster, her Super High School Level, the true nature of the Mastermind; it all came exploding back to her, ricocheting in her mind. She was glad she had closed the shutter and no one was awake, she didn't want anyone else to find this place. She would, most likely, tell Naegi about this soon, and have him investigate a little bit on his own, if possible.

Standing up, Kirigiri placed the memories into her mental timeline, fitting everything in. _Two whole years..._ She thought, _I didn't remember two whole years of my life... _The fact that most likely everyone had lost their memories, she decided, was something that Naegi and the other could be told later, and definitely not in front of the Mastermind's cameras.

Cameras. That was what was missing up here. Kirigiri canvased all the hallways, and opened each door quickly, but there were no cameras. She began her investigation that second, and opened the first door. It was a locker room, and most of the lockers were either empty or destroyed. There were only two that were barely tampered with, and wouldn't swing open.

_They must be in use. _Kirigiri thought, pulling out her Student ID. _It will be a long shot, but it's possible one of these is mine._

She waved the ID in front of the locker on the right. Nothing happened. She waved the ID in front of the locker on the left. A tiny beeping noise, and then a click. Kirigiri opened the door slowly and looked inside. There was a photograph on every inch of the locker's walls, and a single brown notebook on the shelf in the middle, and a backpack lying neatly on the bottom, not touching any of the quality of the photos wasn't the best, but still okay, so it was probably from a cellphone, and most likely hers. There were a few pencils, pens, and random sticky notes, and Kirigiri pocketed each one.

She took the backpack out of the locker, barely escaping hitting one of the pictures. It was a simple, black backpack with three pockets. In the smallest pocket was a cellphone, a packet of watermelon gum with an expiration date one year from that day, a note card with some calculus on it, and a blue sparkly pen that Kirigiri remembered Sayaka Maizono giving her one day in an English class. She thought briefly of giving the pen to Naegi, but figured he would only be reminded of her murder, and that would be bad for both of them. She pulled out the cellphone. The battery was drained. She hoped the charger was somewhere in the backpack. She began chewing a piece of the gum, giving her frontal lobe something to focus on so the rest of her brain could focus on the tasks in front of her. She put the things back into the front pocket, and unzipped the second pocket.

Inside the pocket there were two notebooks, a folder, a calendar, and a cellphone charger. She reminded herself to charge the phone in the AV Room while the Mastermind was busy with the others. Inside the notebooks was nothing interesting, simply notes for school classes, essays, and mathematics assignments. The folder contained advanced Chemistry notes, and inside the calendar was her schedule from the last two years, to the letter. Kirigiri noted the amount of time she spent with Naegi, who appeared to be some sort of boyfriend. She also noted large amounts of time spent with Sayaka Maizono, Mukuro Ikusaba, and Celestia Ludenberg, in the order of time spent, who she thought must have been her best friends. She put the calendar in her jacket pocket, and returned everything else to the pocket.

Opening the third pocket, she found what gave the backpack its weight. Inside there were three textbooks and another two notebooks, along with a menu from her favorite pizza parlor. The textbooks were for Advanced Chemistry, Anthropology, and Calculus 2. Inside the first notebook was her notes from Anthropology, in the other, various lists of things she needed and money she spent at any given point, written to the letter of exactly everything Kirigiri remembered spending. The menu was smiled at, and she hoped the place hadn't gone out of business in the time that she was here, although the incident in which she and her classmates were brought here for good might have shut it down. She signed, returning each item in the order it had been in. She decided not to put the backpack back, instead she decided to keep it, along with the pictures of which she was sure she was taking. Putting it in her room would, for sure, end in a problematic situation, and deciding to put all of these items in a bathhouse locker, she leaned it up against the locker that wouldn't open. Naegi would be doing his investigation up here soon, and Kirigiri didn't want anything that would take up his precious time, he would most likely find things like that in the locker that had refused to open.

She began inspecting the photographs further. Most were definitely pictures she had taken on her cellphone. _Apparently I was a big fan of selfies..._ Kirigiri thought, looking at all of the pictures of herself with different hairstyles and clothes on. She took each down carefully and put them in the Advanced Chemistry folder, which she quickly removed all of the paper from the pocket and poorly hole-punched herself. The pictures only she was in took up the entire right wall. It made her stomach unsettled. She had the same half-smirk half-stern face in each picture. She wanted to slap herself.

On the back wall, there were pictures of her with Maizono, Ikusaba, and Celes. Karaoke, tennis, sleepovers, etc. It seemed to Kirigiri they did almost everything together. She carefully picked the pictures off the wall.

On the left wall were pictures of the other students, all not including her. Some were better than others, and Kirigiri assumed she had taken them all, getting better at photography each time. She liked the candid photos she had taken the best, ones where things just happened to be clever and original and wonderful all at the same time.

Finally, on the door of the locker, were pictures of her and Naegi. Each one was taken so that none overlapped like most of the others did. Each picture was perfect, and Kirigiri noticed she'd edited some of them so that there was a different tone in the background, or so that light was shining on their faces differently. She didn't put these photos in her binder, but instead in the same pocket as the calendar was in.

The only item left in the locker now was the small, brown notebook. Kirigiri was kind of anxious to open it, even though she remembered what was in it. She forced her fingers to open the notebook, and began to read a passage.

_"The plan is to lock down Hope's Peak Academy and have the students live a communal lifestyle..._

_I decided to go and talk directly to the man who made that plan._

_My father, Hope's Peak Academy's headmaster..._

_This is what he said to me:_

_"The goal of this plan is to protect our nation's genius and bring hope to the future."  
>"The only people who can conquer a calamity are those with extreme talent. Only hope can defeat despair."<br>"I will not be remiss in calling this plan our nation's last hope...!"  
>"I must pull you away from a world that has already corrupted its excellent youth, and make you the cornerstone for a better future."<br>"This is our one and only hope... And I wish to have your cooperation."_

_...Those were my father's words.  
>As usual, he just decides things on his own...<em>

_A truly despicable father..."_

Kirigiri stood, slinging the backpack over her shoulder. She placed the notebook directly in the middle of the shelf and closed the locker, making sure it couldn't be opened without her ID. She sighed, and walked out of the room. There were several other bloody, destroyed bedrooms, and several classrooms in the same state. She walked down the hallway until she found the largest door.

_What is this room? _She though, attempting the handle and then pulling out the Monobear key. The door opened fluidly and Kirigiri sighed, inspecting her father's room. A single computer sat on the desk to the left, plugged into a wall outlet. Kirigiri walked to it, turning it on. A window came up asking for a password. After a single incorrect answer, Kirigiri typed her first name "KYOUKO." The window disappeared and a single file blinked on the desktop. Grinding her teeth, Kirigiri opened it, and began reading about her father's research on something called Super High School Level Despair. It appeared to be not a single individual, but an organization, working together to create something called The Worst, Most Despair-inducing Incident in the History of Mankind.

_His investigation skills are poor, he says nothing about a person or persons. I guess leaving the Kirigiri family made him completely incapable of performing and investigation. _Kirigiri sighed, turning off the computer. _I'll have Naegi look at it later, I suppose. _

She looked through her father's desk drawers, through everything in the room. _I've searched this room with a fine-toothed comb, but I'm missing something, I know I am. Maybe he could help. For what he is, he isn't too bad at putting things together. _She pulled the backpack back over her shoulder, turning around and closing the door behind her.

Her descent down the stairs was in silence, as well as her opening and closing of the shutter blocking off the stairs. She surmised that it would open soon, as soon as the Mastermind realized they were at the disadvantage. She began her fast-paced walk to the bathhouse, and decided she should take a bath, to throw off any unneeded suspicion the Mastermind would have of her.

_I'm close to figuring you out. I have some ideas, but I don't know for sure. But I do know I'm getting close._


End file.
